


built on a hill (light the fire)

by jacksgreysays (jacksgreyson), jacksgreyson



Series: built on a hill (light the fire) 'verse [1]
Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen, Naruto, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Backstory, Crossover, Gen, Mission Fic, POV Outsider, Pre-Canon, Slice of Life, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:33:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22110379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksgreyson/pseuds/jacksgreysays, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksgreyson/pseuds/jacksgreyson
Summary: Not everyone is made for the limelight…… not everyone who is wants it.A boy who could erase quirks would never have the flashiest of existences. A boy born in the spotlight would find it very difficult to leave. But somehow, Shouta and Kakashi make do.(Or, there's undercover hero work, and then there's Undercover hero work. Underneath the underneath, as it were.)[[Chapter 2 is just Behind the Scenes/Author's Notes]]
Relationships: Aizawa Shouta & Hatake Kakashi, Nara Shikaku & Nedzu
Series: built on a hill (light the fire) 'verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2060472
Comments: 35
Kudos: 285
Collections: Dreaming of Sunshine Exchange 2019 B, Heliocentrism — a Dreaming of Sunshine recursive collection





	1. built on a hill (light the fire)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Charientist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charientist/gifts).



Shiho is in hell.

“Next time, I want a bigger haul. This one was barely anything,” Enomoto from next door complains, a pointed glare sent in Shiho’s direction as if the six duffel bags on his apartment floor were full of trash and not stacks upon stacks of cash they had successfully stolen from a currency exchange shop.

A heist that she is less than proud to say she planned, but more than proud to say didn’t involve any casualties whatsoever even with Enomoto and his friends shooting their quirks off in intimidation or impatience or even just boredom.

“Your cut,” Enomoto says, tossing a thin bundle her way, the rest of the crew jeering as they pawed through the rest of loot.

A quick glance told her it was barely enough to cover her rent in their awful apartment building, much less have enough to put towards her get-out-of-hell fund.

“Don’t spend it all in one place,” he adds, a final cruelty as she retreats, as if in unnecessary reminder that no matter what she did, he would always find her. Would always find his cash cow.

Some people might find it romantic to be considered the most valuable thing another person has ever seen. Shiho would bet they wouldn’t feel the same if they knew it was literal.

She locks her front door, one-two-three, and even though she can still hear their voices through the thin walls, she at least feels a little bit better, a little bit safer. She splits her cut into twenty separate tiny rolls and secretes them into different places around her apartment. Not that she thinks Enomoto will actually rob her--hasn’t she already given him enough?--but at this point, it’s become another tiny rebellion against him.

But she knows, even if it’s terrifying to even consider, she’ll have to step it up if she wants this hellish status quo to end.

Shiho goes to her uncomfortable second-hand sofa and begins pulling off the cushions. They thunk against the floor, more filing folder than pillow at this point, and as she empties them of their contents the intel from the currency exchange shop spill out. Maps and blueprints and employee logs, a copy of security camera footage from the convenience store across the street because actually getting some from the currency exchange shop was too hard.

Everything about this job was harder than Enomoto would have preferred. Not hard enough to be impossible--she knows better than to set the crew up for failure--but hard enough that it should have slowed them down. Just slow enough that one of the Hero patrols might have been able to notice. Might have been able to stop it.

She sighs, setting up everything she needs to dispose of the intel--mostly burning in a metal trash can out on the tiny space called a balcony--she should know better than to rely on outliers like Heroes. But she still… she eyes the pullout bed part of the sofa, a worrying mechanism more rust than metal. It would grievously harm anyone who tried to sleep on the thing, but that’s not why it brings her comfort.

And given the kind of day it’s been, she needs it. She finds the strap and tugs, the unfolding motion smooth and nearly silent despite all appearances.

If for some reason a normal person were to enter her apartment, the sheer lumpiness and hideousness of the sofa would put them off the idea of interacting with it. If a less normal, more inquisitive person for some reason decided to inspect the sofa, they’d find heist plans within the cushions and think that were it. If an extremely thorough person unafraid of tetanus were to continue their search, they’d find, instead of a flea-ridden mattress, an investigation board full of old newspaper and magazine clippings, printed out blog posts from sites long since taken down and blurry screenshots of videos no longer available.

Before Enomoto found her, Shiho used her quirk for fun. Or, well, her version of fun. Data analysis isn’t the most exciting of quirks--and she was already a somewhat shy person besides--but it was still fun making the connections between things that no one else would see. That no one else would even think to look for. And she knows better than to rely on outliers like Heroes. But still… 

She’s not looking for a hero. Not. Not really, not the way people might think, to be saved or anything like that. She’s in hell, but it’s not something a Hero with a flashy quirk and a smile is going to save her from. She’s looking for a hero because it’s nice to use her quirk for something that isn’t crime, for herself instead of Enomoto. She’s looking for a hero because somewhere in the scraps of information she’s cobbled together, connected in a loose timeline, is a trace of someone who, like her, has somehow fallen through the cracks. Someone who is forgotten and missing. Someone who is lost. She knows no one is looking for her, but it makes her feel better to look for this hero in exchange.

She knows better than to rely on it, but still--she can dream can’t she?

 **_Hero Wedding Of The Decade: Last Year’s Most Eligible Bachelor White Fang Off The Market!_ ** _[Hero Weekly, Issue 627, January 2X28]_

 **_Youngest UA Graduate: How Young Is Too Young?_ ** _[The Mirror, Op-Ed, March 2X40]_

 **_30 Under 30 Heroes: #4 YELLOW FLASH_ ** _[Forbes List, 2X40 Edition]_

 **_WHITE FANG DISGRACED: Former Top 5 Hero, White Fang, responsible for Galidra Massacre?_ ** _[Tokyo News, November 2X41]_

 **_Heroic Hotties To Keep Your Eye On!_ ** _[Teen Hero Beat, Issue 483, April 2X43]_

 **_Quirk Alteration After Optical Transplantation_ ** _[Japan Medical Association Journal, July 2X45]_

 **_FLASH IN THE PAN: Rise and Fall of a Hero, Remembering Yellow Flash_ ** _[TIME, October 2X45]_

“This is good work,” a voice says and Shiho startles, gaze drawn away from her investigation board. A shadowy figure stands on the other side of the gutted sofa, features difficult to parse even though the way the light is set up in Shiho’s apartment means the figure should be completely visible. Despite the fact that the figure is smaller than Shiho and, for all the voice is probably meant to be gravelly, likely younger than her, she is frozen. Caught.

“Oh, you even have a picture of Sensei in his first hero costume!” The figure adds, carefully tapping one of the blurry screenshots, “He’s going to be so embarrassed. He’s so tiny,” the figure practically coos.

What? Who? How? Why?

“Are you here to… get rid of me?” Shiho knows she’s not important. Not so important that she couldn’t easily be disposed of if she proves to be too much of a problem. It almost doesn’t matter who this figure is-- if they’re a Hero and have found out Shiho’s been helping out with her neighbor’s heists, then she’s a criminal to be arrested. If they’re a Villain then this investigation board is either a betrayal of allegiance at best or, she gives a shaky breath, proof that she’s been holding back her quirk. She--

Shiho tries to minimize the bad her quirk does. When Enomoto and his crew go out, she plans around the guard rotations so they can be avoided instead of fighting and possibly killing them. She only targets places that have insurance so it doesn’t affect the people working there or the customers. She doesn’t know who Enomoto works for--her quirk doesn’t just turn off, she knows that twenty percent of their ill-gotten gains always disappears--but she wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a Villain of some sort. And if a Villain discovers she can find out the identities of heroes--

“No,” the figure says, and even though their face is still somehow covered by shadows, Shiho can practically hear the eye roll. “I’m not here to get rid of you, Shiho Hisajima. I’m here to recruit you.”

* * *

From one of the Agency’s mission control rooms, Shikaku watches footage as Agent Hawk and most of Red Team quickly and quietly subdue and apprehend the crew of thieves responsible for over a dozen heists around the greater Tokyo area. On another monitor is footage from Agent Bat’s camera as she brings in Shiho Hisajima.

He’s both proud and a little sad at how successful his daughter is, though that probably has more to do with how desperate Shiho is to leave--packing her meager belongings on the offer of a dorm room at the Agency--than anything else. Though it was right to send Agent Bat to her first, as even with how eager Shiho is to leave, the girl flinches at the appearance of the rest of the Red Team.

“Data Analysis, and such a powerful manifestation! Oh, what I could have done with that,” Nedzu complains, but it’s more a strange attempt at humor. They are frequent enough allies that Shikaku would consider the headmaster a friend of sorts, and so he knows to play along.

“It’s too late for enrollment, and she’d only get three months before graduation.” Shikaku counters, “At this point in the year, your students are already mostly at their internships. She would have gone to me anyway; this is just expedient.”

Needless to say, even if she had wanted to go to UA, the school’s entrance exams weren’t exactly kind to the less showy quirks. No, better to get her settled, away from her life of crime, then let her figure out what she wanted to learn after.

“I know many Hero agencies that could use more brains in their support department,” Nedzu says under his breath, but loud enough to share the joke.

“I know many Hero agencies that could use more brains,” Shikaku banters easily.

“I know many Heroes that could use more brains!” the headmaster rejoins.

“Then you better get working on that instead of poaching from me,” the Agency Commander neatly concludes.

There is a moment where they let the levity linger, before Nedzu asks, “You’re being rather over protective, don’t you think?”

The look Shikaku sends is sharp but short as his gaze returns to the footage and drafting a follow up mission: yes, they’ve neutralized this particular threat, reallocating their planner and arresting the crew of thieves. But without knowing how they contact their boss, or who their boss even is, things could get… loud. Somewhere a Villain is going to find their finances abruptly restricted and who knows how they’ll react... this may be something he’ll have to kick up to the Hero agencies. Troublesome.

“I think I’m being the exact amount of protective,” he says. Shiho Hisajima has been exploited by her neighbor for years--immediately extracting her from the situation when she clearly wants to leave is only the smallest amount of decency he can provide. “She’s still a child.”

Nedzu gives as skeptical a glance a rodent can give, “Not her,” he says, gesturing to the video of Shiho. “Him,” he then points at a different part of the screen. The part of the screen showing Shiho’s investigation board piecing together lost connections of a not-so-forgotten, not-so-missing hero. After all, the sullen, scowling sidekick in those blurry old photos hardly counts as a child anymore.

It’s strange to see Kakashi in a uniform that isn’t the Agency’s bland, identical monochrome. A reminder that he was trained to be a Hero before choosing to become an Agent.

Shikaku gives an equally skeptical look right back, “And yours is?” He doesn’t have to clarify in order for Nedzu to understand which non-child he is referring. Given their positions, neither of them should be sentimental about their employees, but they're smart enough to realize it’s an inevitability.

And given their positions, well. There was another time when the Agency Commander met with UA’s Headmaster, talking about the boy who would become Eraserhead.

Nedzu nods, acceding the point then, after a moment, switching tracks, “Speaking of, I was thinking about a joint training event for 1-A and some of your younger Agents. From what I’ve seen, I think it would be interesting.”

“You think they can handle it?” Shikaku asks, clearly referring to the UA students. He is confident in his Agents’ capabilities, no matter their age.

“We’ll see,” Nedzu deflects, “They’ve been through quite the number of ordeals already. I’d like to hope they’d perform admirably even when their lives aren’t in danger.”

* * *

The first time Kakashi and Shouta met, Kakashi was still the public sidekick Lightsaber and Shouta was a student of UA’s General Department Class 1-C.

This was before early graduation had been banned and so, for all that they were the same age, one had four more years of practical field experience than the other. Four more years of physical and mental trauma than the other, Kakashi would have said… were he inclined to do any speaking. Which he wasn’t.

At first, the only voice in UA’s infirmary was Recovery Girl’s.

But then Shouta had been sent there for a bloody nose, a smattering of bruises, and a broken wrist. Getting into fights with 1-B students, he reported in a mumble, to which Recovery Girl chastised with a simple “Again?” before gesturing Shouta to the other bed. In the first bed, Kakashi--there for a third opinion on his new left eye--continued to say nothing.

But he and Shouta glanced at each other briefly while Recovery Girl quickly set and healed Shouta’s wrist.

Had things been even the slightest bit different, that would have been that. A mere chance meeting. A tiny incident to be casually mentioned one day in the future--if they even remembered at all--nothing more than that.

But Recovery Girl, ever efficient, had decided to ‘catch two villains with one quirk’ so to speak and had asked Shouta to contribute his to the matter.

Quirk activated, Shouta met the eyes of a boy who had everything he dreamed of. Quirk suppressed, Kakashi hesitantly opened his new left eye and didn't immediately pass out. 

“Oh good, this is progress at least,” Recovery Girl remarked, as she took tests, made diagnostic measurements, and muttered terrible things under her breath about brilliant but incomprehensible quirks. It certainly hadn’t seemed like she needed conversational input from either of them--fortunately, considering Kakashi still wasn’t talking and Shouta had no idea what the situation even was, beyond the fact that Recovery Girl had asked for his help and he could give it--and so she let the two of them stare each other down in relative silence.

If that had been all, it still wouldn't have meant much. Even that much could have been relegated to an interesting anecdote for later. Something to be told in a bar after a rough, but successful patrol, ‘that time I met Lightsaber when he was still a sidekick.’ But Shouta could still hear the jeers and taunts of the 1-B students: if they had the right of it, he’d never become a Hero, would never have that bar night after a rough, but successful patrol--and it made him uncharacteristically brash. 

"I'd give anything to be in your place," Shouta divulged, eye contact required but no less intimate.

He hadn't meant any harm with it, is the thing. He was a teenage boy who could only see someone his age already living the dream. He hadn't meant for his words to strike so hard. He didn’t have the context for how it might be interpreted, couldn’t understand his own cruelty. He had been heedless, but not callous. There had been no intent to hurt… 

… but still it cut Kakashi to the quick. Sharper than the blade that stole his original eye, more accurate than Rin's energy scalpels, deeper than the sword his father had used to--Kakashi made a barely audible noise and closed his eyes. Confused, Shouta blinked and broke the connection. Recovery Girl huffed in protest, but shrugged it off, having collected more than enough data to send a report to Tsunade.

It could have ended there. A chance meeting, a poorly made remark, an embarrassing and rueful tale for an older, wiser Shouta to recall. Why youthful dreams weren’t everything, not if they weren’t partnered with consideration and kindness.

That could have been it, the interaction done and over, had Kakashi kept quiet. Kept the hurt inside. But he already had so much hurt inside, his outward wounds only the smallest reflection, and he couldn't swallow this little bit down. Not that he could be expected to do so. Not that he should have, even if he could.

"I'd rather die," Kakashi responded, the words rasped out, scraped against his nerves, against his will. The first words he’d said in weeks that even Recovery Girl looked up from her work and stared. Because he was just a teenage boy who had given so much--too much--practically everything and ended up in a place he never wanted to be. Would never want anyone else to be, because then they would know far too much about loss, too.

Were Kakashi better at communicating, he could have phrased it differently: turn back, I am living a nightmare and I can't wake up, I've lost so much--too much--practically everything and it's not worth it, turn back. This life is worth less without the people who believed in me. I never wanted to be a Hero, I just wanted to make my heroes proud. I would never choose this... 

… but he, too, was a teenage boy who had better control of his quirk than his words.

"I'd give anything to be in your place," Shouta said and Kakashi heard: "Everything you've lost was worth it."

"I'd rather die," Kakashi said and Shouta heard: "You are doomed to fail."

There could be no letting matters lie after that.

* * *

Ami doesn’t entirely hate her internship at the inn, but it’s not exactly what she would call fun either.

“Excuse me, honorable customers,” Kuwabara-senpai says politely as she knocks on the door of the Wisteria Suite, “We’ve brought your breakfast this morning.”

Ami, as the youngest member of the hotel’s staff, is thankfully not expected to say anything to the customers and in fact has been encouraged not to do so. Which is ideal, honestly, because she still has trouble keeping the servile tones when speaking to the less problematic customers, much less hiding the scowl of disgust that wants to cross her face when the suite door opens.

In matching, loosely hanging open, complimentary robes, the old man who reserved the Wisteria Suite for the month and a young woman who wasn’t the one who arrived with him (or the woman from yesterday, or the woman from last week) barely manage to take their hands off each other long enough to let Kuwabara-senpai and Ami in. Even with keeping her eyes down, she sees way more skin--wrinkled and not--than she would prefer.

Swiftly, they place the trays down on the table, Kuwabara-senpai spouting a few more bland niceties that go unsurprisingly ignored, before finally taking their leave with matching (if shallower than etiquette would demand) bows.

Ami’s scowl escapes less than five steps from the Wisteria Suite, and even though Kuwabara-senpai maintains her poise throughout the hallways of the inn, once they get back to the kitchen, a small wrinkle of her nose gives her away.

Ami laughs, only mostly mocking.

“Machinaga-dono is a valued customer,” Kuwabara-senpai protests, though the twitching at the corner of her mouth is less than convincing, “He always reserves the Wisteria Suite for a full month. It’s one of our more expensive rooms. A reliable customer.”

“A predictable customer,” Ami adds, “An easy to assassinate, nearly poisoned multiple times, predictable customer.”

“Yes,” Kuwabara-senpai admits, easily. “But that’s what we have you for,” she says, and Ami smirks, pleased. “It would be terrible if a member of parliament died in our establishment.”

“But not if he died elsewhere?” Ami asks, dryly.

Kuwabara-senpai meets her eyes and pointedly raises one brow, “He’s not my responsibility elsewhere, now is he?” 

Ami is momentarily taken aback. Kuwabara-senpai is speaking as the waka-okami, the heiress to this ryokan and its entire chain of inns. Of course her responsibility is to protect her legacy. But, still...

Ami opens her mouth to respond--responsibility or location shouldn’t make someone’s death any less terrible even if they are predictable and corrupt and perverted and having a somehow still secret series of affairs--when her mobile phone chirps a notification at her.

Normally, staff members aren’t allowed to keep their phones on them during working hours and certainly not where their noise could disturb the customers, but Ami’s phone is only set to make audible notifications for a very specific contact. And she’s not exactly a normal staff member here.

“Another mission already, Agent Possum?” Kuwabara-senpai says carefully, neatly concluding their previous conversation and tacitly giving Ami permission to leave early.

It could only have come from the one contact, really, but Ami checks her phone to confirm anyway: **C-rank Priority Agent Recall** , reads the subject line. Ami sighs, “Yes, I have to go. I’ll--” Ami hesitates, “I’ll see you later?”

Kuwabara-senpai smiles and Ami can feel a flush of heat spread across her cheeks. “Yes, next week,” she responds simply, and while Ami turns to leave she adds a soft, “Good luck, Ami-san,” which for some incomprehensible reason causes Ami’s face to flush further. But she’s already leaving and no one is looking so it’s fine.

She quickly changes out of her uniform in the staff locker rooms, scowl firmly back in place. As she leaves for the train station, she skims her phone for further details: the C-rank Priority Agent Recall was sent to twenty agents, most of them from her original training batch with a few from the year above. Civilian identities, casual clothes, covert operations training at--

“UA?” Ami sneers under her breath, even as she boards the line that will get her to Musutafu.

It’s not like Ami has a problem with Heroes. They’re fine, or whatever. They have their place in society and sometimes extreme problems require extreme solutions and Heroes fill a much needed role to be said solutions, yadda yadda. Ami’s fine with Heroes as a concept.

What she doesn’t like are wannabe Heroes: people with loud quirks and loud dreams and no common sense or decency at all. As if having a powerful quirk will carry them through life. What she doesn’t like are the people who want the celebrity status but not the civic duties involved in being a Hero.

Ami knows her quirk isn’t flashy, isn’t the kind of thing that will make the news, isn’t going to make her a Hero with a capital H--not that she even wants that--but it will save lives. She will save lives. She’s already saved a few lives though, admittedly, maybe not as many some of her other fellow agents.

“Ami-chan! Over here!” one of said other fellow agents call out, waving at her, like Ami couldn’t see the rest of them gathering outside the gates of UA.

“Don’t be so familiar, Billboard Brow,” Ami sneers, largely ignoring the eye rolls from the rest of their training batch, “And no need to shout, as if I couldn’t see your forehead from three blocks away,” she adds, reflexively.

Although, unlike when they were younger, Billboard Brow sticks her tongue out in response, letting the admittedly childish insults roll off her disgustingly muscular back--another thing that’s changed since they first started training.

“As charming as ever, Ami,” Airhead Princess remarks all judgemental, flipping her blonde ponytail over her shoulder, as if she’s made some kind of point or like Ami even cares what she thinks.

“Whatever, so are we doing this or not? I have better things to do on a Saturday,” she says, crossing her arms.

“Like mooning over your client’s daughter?” Airhead Princess says for a no doubt idiotic reason, clearly off base and grasping at straws, but the drama of it has Billboard Brow gasping in nosy delight.

“We’re waiting for Kakashi-sensei,” interrupts Nerdy Braid before Ami can properly put Airhead Princess in her place and correct her on her completely wrong theories. “But Anko-sensei is taking attendance, if you want to let her know you’re here already,” she continues with a completely unnecessary and thus useless glance in that direction.

“Fine,” Ami says gruffly, walking towards her cousin. Anko-nee greets her with a smirk, asking after Ami’s internship and mussing her hair annoyingly, before waving her away and getting all handsy with the next teen agent reporting in. Her scowl and hurried hair fixing is entirely too real for all that it’s also a cover to read through the instructions Anko-nee passed her. Coded, of course:

A list of five names--UA students, obviously--to be tagged in sequential order. If they go out of order or come in contact with a different student not on their list, they must start over from the top. And above all, cover must be maintained. Their cover being, apparently, a group of civilian high schoolers helping UA’s class 1-A with a training exercise.

As per protocol, Ami memorizes then destroys the instructions, ready to play her role.

So Ami obediently lines up with the rest of her group as they enter UA’s ridiculously massive training grounds, but she’s not going to be completely spineless, glaring at the shitty little grape who ogles Creepy Eyes (Girl Version). Ami ignores the stuttered thanks, instead choosing to kick out threateningly in that shitty little grape’s direction.

She doesn’t appreciate the way these UA students gloss over her, dismissing her as nothing more than the pretend hostages they’re supposed to be for their dumb training game. Ami knows that’s the point: she’s meant to practice being ‘underneath the underneath’ or whatever it is Kakashi-sensei likes to say, so being underestimated like this is a good thing.

But still. Super annoying. She doesn’t even try to hide her scowl, not like the chipper overly cheery try-hards in her group who are all smiling widely like the absolute lunatics they are. Then again, considering some of the missions they’ve already gone on, this really is more game than training… unless the whole ‘underneath the underneath’ bullshit means it’s cycled back to training and that’s what her classmates are actually excited about. Knowing those weirdos, that’s probably it.

But for the UA students, the exercise is easy--split in half between ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ it’s the job of each team to get as many of the ‘hostages’ to their base before the end of the simulation. Which will make following the instructions Ami and her fellow agents have been given all the more difficult.

Within her crossed arms, Ami clenches her fist. Ami’s quirk won’t help her. Her poison detection and neutralization is going to save lives--she’s going to save lives--but it won’t help her here. She only has her own skill to rely on. That’s fine.

She doesn’t need a flashy quirk to be a competent Agent. 

She meets eyes with the first name on her list and the jumped up Hero wannabe has the audacity to sneer at her, as if the mask and the grenades on his arms make him any better than her. That’s fine, too.

Ami bares her teeth right back.

* * *

Within the observation room, Toshinori is having a splendid conversation with one of the other school’s teachers: Maito Gai, a man especially enthusiastic about unorthodox methods for physical training--a man especially enthusiastic about a lot, it seems--which is an outlook and font of experience that Toshinori certainly appreciates. The conversation is gratifyingly engaging, though not too much so that he is unable to keep an eye on the training exercise as it unfolds on the monitors, the remarkable waves of irritation coming off of Aizawa-kun, or the way an unnamed masked man slinks into the room and leans casually against the wall as if he’d been in the room since the start and not, in actuality, an entire hour late.

Toshinori also doesn’t miss the way Aizawa-kun practically bristles at the unnamed masked man’s entrance and his pointed lack of actual eye contact.

“Kakashi!” Maito-kun greets enthusiastically, “I am overjoyed that you were able to locate us and have finally joined us!” The enthusiastically delivered but elegantly phrased scolding is punctuated with a wide grin and a thumbs up. Truly, this is a man Toshinori can learn much from.

The thus named masked man shrugs indolently, “Ah, well, I decided my day was free enough that I could watch my adorable students on their playdate.” A far less elegantly phrased response.

One so poorly phrased, in fact, that Aizawa-kun’s already palpable irritation spikes to an almost painful degree. 

“Your devotion to the youth is indeed admirable, My Eternal Rival!” Maito-kun responds, a bewildering exaggeration and even more bewildering epithet.

“Your Eternal Rival?” Toshinori asks, “Don’t you both teach the same class?”

“Hahaha, of course!” Maito-kun answers and doesn’t clarify whatsoever. His grin is wide and bright.

Toshinori grins wide and bright in kind.

“Oh no, there’s two of them,” mutters the masked Kakashi. Aizawa-kun, forgetting his irritation for a moment, makes an agreeing hum before returning to his sullenly silent state.

Over by the monitors, the other visiting teacher, Mitarashi Anko, clicks her tongue in irritation, “Come on, brats, I’ve got money riding on this.”

“Please don’t bet on our students,” Thirteen says firmly but politely.

“I’m not betting on your students,” Mitarashi responds--bold-faced denial or immediate acquiescence?--before clarifying with a smirk, “I’m betting on my students. Come on, let’s pick up the pace!” She yells at them, even though she isn’t using the intercom system and thus cannot be heard.

Thirteen starts to ask, “What do you mean by--” but it coincides with crashing sounds--concrete cracking, Toshinori recognizes the noise--and all of the teachers present turn their attention to the monitors, searching.

Not young Bakugou. Not young Todoroki. There would have been an explosion, or the creaking sound of ice. Not young Uraraka or young Iida, both of them on screen and safe. He discounts different students as he spots them, running through the list. Could it be? Toshinori can’t find young Midoriya--

“Please do not be alarmed, Yagi-san!” Maito-kun says, hand dropping onto Toshinori’s shoulder, “It is only my dear student Lee removing his weights! He has a youthful passion for dramatic presentation!”

Somewhat assured, though his eyes still seek out his successor, Toshinori asks, “He has weight training? Is that related to his quirk?” Perhaps that is an option he should bring up with young Midoriya.

“No, he is quirkless. But through hard work he has become the fastest amongst his batch--class. Amongst his class,” Maito-kun says, stumbling at the end, though it isn’t what Toshinori focuses on. Quirkless? 

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Thirteen voices before Toshinori can get his own thoughts together.

“What is?” Maito-kun asks, perfectly mild. And if that causes Mitarashi and the masked Kakashi to glance at each other, well. “Lee’s weight training has been vetted by our esteemed medics so as not to impair his development or health.”

“No, I mean, isn’t it dangerous having a quirkless student involved in this training exercise?” Thirteen clarifies, perhaps not heeding the way Maito-kun’s grin has dimmed. Not noticing the quick exchange of hand signals between Mitarashi and the masked Kakashi.

“Isn’t that what this game is all about?” Mitarashi butts into the conversation, bringing the attention on her as the masked Kakashi grips Maito-kun’s elbow and guides him away, “Just being a civilian is dangerous--they could be casualties or taken hostage at any time, right?” she asks, smirk sharp and baiting.

“But having a quirk makes it less so," Thirteen answers, "Even though this exercise is a simulation and not the real thing, a quirkless student would be in more danger than a student with a quirk.”

Mitarashi is quick to respond. “What if their quirk is something like, oh, breathing underwater? That’s not going to help them when an earthquake causes a building to collapse on them, or when a villain decides they want to have a convenient meat shield. I’d bet on Lee over some mystery random quirk any day.”

“You shouldn’t be betting on any students,” Thirteen chastises, but before Mitarashi can argue, Aizawa-kun finally speaks:

“Why did… Lee… remove his weights?”

And though most of it remains hidden, Toshinori can somehow tell that on Kakashi’s face is a smile as sharp and baiting as Mitarashi’s. “To be faster, of course,” the masked man answers, faux sweet.

Aizawa-kun turns to glare at him, and though his quirk isn’t active, Toshinori somehow feels as if it should be--the tension of the room rising to a level beyond where it already was. “And why does he need to be faster?” Aizawa-kun says between gritted teeth.

And in a tone curled sardonic, Kakashi responds, “Now that’s the right question.”

* * *

The first time undercover Hero Eraserhead met Agent Wolf, it was an accident. They were working separate missions that had collided in bewildering and unfortunately chaotic ways.

Still a sidekick during that time, Shouta had a point to prove about being a capable Hero even when his quirk only applied in certain situations. It was why he was so determined to infiltrate the Moncala dock workers even though his agency had already told him to stand down. Well, technically, they only told him to stop looking for the smugglers’ ship and their cargo. They never said not to go to the bar nearest the Moncala docks and buy some of the much deserving workers some well earned drinks. And maybe ask some questions. Possibly about smugglers.

What Shouta did in his own free time was no one’s responsibility but his own.

Of course, it was during a particularly fruitful and surprisingly entertaining conversation that an explosion followed by a series of thuds in increasing volume made itself known, everyone’s drinks shaking as something huge shook the ground.

The dock worker Shouta was speaking to at that moment swore, he and his compatriots hurriedly readying themselves to vacate the premises. Shouta, already on his feet, did the same. And if he was using the same methods taught at UA about evacuating an active danger scene of civilians, well, was that not what was currently happening?

“What’s going on?” Shouta asked, even as he helped brace some of the bar patrons, the ground shaking more and more as whatever was the source of the quakes drew nearer and nearer.

“Boss said he had a new security plan,” the dock worker and, apparently, smuggler said, “He heard there were some Heroes sniffing around, decided to put a trap. But I don’t know what this is!” he explained, straight to a Hero’s face. Then, as they all cleared building, the majority of people fleeing the pier entirely, he didn’t have to explain anymore:

As Shouta looked to the water, a massive monster with spiky shells and undulating tails approached.

“Come on, kid, we gotta get out of here,” says the man who, smuggling aside, seemed like an okay guy. He reached for Shouta, as if to drag him along, but Shouta brushed it aside.

“I can’t,” Shouta said, pulling away, tugging at his capture weapon tucked beneath his jacket, “I have to stay and help.” It wouldn’t do much against a monster multiple stories tall, but it was all he had.

“What--are you crazy?”

That would have been the cinematic moment to turn confidently--the monster silhouetted behind him--and announce, no, he wasn’t crazy, he was a Hero. But Shouta had never been one for dramatics like that, so all he said was, “Yeah, probably. You should get out of here. And maybe reconsider your career choices,” before running towards the danger like the crazy person he was.

Because that’s what Heroes did...

… and, ideally, also stop said danger.

But Shouta wasn’t a complete idiot, so he also brought out his phone as he ran, calling the agency for backup and reporting what he could of the situation. “Yeah, a giant turtle monster! No, I don’t see anyone--” he cut himself off, spotting a shape also moving toward the giant turtle monster approaching the pier. Maybe he spoke too soon.

“Hey! You!” Shouta called out, which wasn’t exactly the smartest way to confront an unknown person, but that’s what the capture weapon was for. As the wraps reached out, Shouta took in more of the suspect: bland, monochrome armor, dark hood, pale mask with red markings. Not any Hero outfit Shouta knew--and he had been taught all the active Heroes in the area, so as not to cause miscommunication on the field--which meant either a Vigilante or, worse, a Villain. Either way, someone that Shouta should definitely capture.

Except, as the cloth closed in, the suspect turned, arm whipping out with a bright white light, temporarily blinding Shouta and also leaving the ends of his capture weapon inert and in pieces on the ground.

“I don’t have time for this,” the masked suspect said, dismissive, before resuming his beeline for the monster “I have to make sure she doesn’t hurt anyone.”

What? She?

“She-You?” Shouta asked, following, “Who are you?”

“Doesn’t matter. Whoever you are, you should get out of here. It’s dangerous.”

Yeah, which was why Shouta was still here. But he grit his teeth, “I’m Eraserhead. I’m a Hero, I’m here to help.”

The masked suspect glanced his way and snorted, “In my experience, that’s not usually how it works.” But he seemed to do a double take, the painted mask eerie to look at straight on. “You’re the one who can suppress quirks,” he said, which was alarming but also, just a little bit, gratifying.

Because if even a probable Vigilante knew who Eraserhead was then that meant Shouta was succeeding… probably? But them knowing what he could do was… well… them knowing what he could do.

“Come on,” the suspicious probable-Vigilante said, and for the second time tonight, someone reached for Shouta to bring him somewhere.

And for the second time tonight, Shouta brushed them off. “No,” he said, pride still stinging from the snub against Heroes.

“I thought you were here to help. Or do you want that--” the probable-Vigilante pointed toward the impossible-to-miss giant turtle monster, “--reaching shore?”

“What does that have to do with suppressing quirks?” Shouta asked, mind reeling from the idea that other people knew what he could do.

“You think that’s what she looks like normally?” the probable-Vigilante returned, tone practically dry enough to dispel the waves lapping at the pillars of the pier, and Shouta bristled despite himself.

“How did she get that far out into the water before being a giant turtle?” he asked, ignoring the sarcasm, mind focused on the logistics of getting to and stopping a giant turtle monster out in the sea when neither he nor, presumably, the suspicious probable-Vigilante don’t have aquatic based quirks. “How do we get to her?” 

“Now that’s the right question,” the probable-Vigilante asked, and if it weren’t so patronizing, Shouta would probably appreciate it. “By the way, that’s Agent Otter.”

Weird name for a giant turtle monster.

Then, in a way that would make any cinematic director weep with joy at the dramatic framing and timing, the probable-Vigilante lifted up his creepy painted mask to reveal an annoyingly handsome and unfortunately recognizable face, “And I’m Agent Wolf.”

* * *

When the training exercise finishes, neither the ‘hero’ or ‘villain’ teams having more ‘hostages’ than the other, Tooru lines up with the rest of her classmates to receive performance reviews from their teachers. Somewhat confusingly, the civilian class of volunteer ‘hostages’ also line up a few meters away, like a weird reflection in casual clothes. They don’t appear to be planning on leaving any time soon even though, with the exercise over and done with, surely there’s no reason for them to stay at UA?

It’s a thought she lets go when Aizawa-sensei, All Might, and Thirteen show up, trailed by three strange adults. And she does mean strange--the woman in an outfit that rivals even Midnight-sensei’s, one of the men in a bright green unitard that looks disturbingly similar to one of the students across the way, and the last with a mostly covered face wearing what looks like just some sweats. Considering his hair, Tooru wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out he had just rolled out of bed. She doesn’t remember her civilian teachers from middle school being so weird, but then again, she also didn’t really see them on the weekends so…

“Congratulations, villain team, you win,” Aizawa-sensei says, to both loud cheers and louder complaints, depending on which side her classmates were on. Having been on the ‘villain’ team, Hagakure claps, pleased.

“What?” Kaminari-kun yells, “That’s not fair! We had the same number of hostages!”

“Yes,” All Might-sensei agrees, cutting off Kaminari-kun’s argument before it can properly start, “Which is why you lost. Villains having any number of hostages at the end counts as a mission failure. Heroes are supposed to try to save everyone. Not half of the people, not even most of the people. Everyone.”

Thoroughly chastised, Kaminari-kun sulks.

“And the people who don’t want to be saved?” Midoriya-kun asks. A weird question for him, considering he was on the ‘villain’ team, too, and also completely uncharacteristic of him to not want to save everyone.

“Even them,” All Might-sensei intones, “Especially them,” which would otherwise lead to a lecture about the philosophy of being a Hero…

Except for how Aizawa-sensei cuts in with, “What makes you say that?” he asks Midoriya-kun, gaze not on him but on the class of civilian volunteers who are... still here?

Midoriya-kun also looks at the other class, and so everyone’s attention turns that way. “There were definitely a few hostages who had been rescued but then left the ‘hero base’ even though that’s where they were safe. They weren’t taken by any of the ‘villains’ they just left on their own. And some of them deliberately walked toward some of the ‘villains’ but not all of them? And only after they’d run away...” he trails off, muttering, something going on in that big fluffy head of his.

“Is that so?” Aizawa-sensei asks, tone completely flat and not actually curious at all.

“That is so,” The weird mostly masked teacher in sweats says, which startles Tooru and some of her classmates. How did--even she hadn’t seen him approach!--but they were all looking in that direction?

Aizawa-sensei glares at him. “Will you be explaining that? Otherwise, I’ll have to ask you to take your class and leave,” he says through gritted teeth.

“Hm, no,” the weird masked teacher says, and even waves his civilian class to come closer.

“We appreciate your class joining us for this training exercise,” Thirteen-sensei tries to mitigate, “But we need to give our students performance reviews now. Unfortunately, they are unavailable to socialize.”

“Why not both?” the teacher in fishnets and a trench coat suggests, “Our brats can also tell your brats how they need to improve.”

Tooru bristles, along with nearly the rest of Class 1-A. Bakugou-kun goes so far as to add, “Say that to my face you--” insults and explosions cut off by Aizawa-sensei and his capture weapon.

“And should we do the same for them?” Midoriya-kun asks, drawing attention once more, “Tell your students how to improve, that is,” he clarifies, “Because I don’t think some of them were as subtle as they were supposed to be?”

Terrible trench coat teacher’s smirk grows wider and she leans in close to Midoriya-kun’s face which flushes a bright red but doesn’t look away, “Not bad, Rabbit,” she says, which doesn’t exactly answer Midoriya-kun’s or, now, Tooru’s questions.

“I’ll ask you not to poach from my students,” says a voice from about knee height. Headmaster Nedzu!

“Oh, fine,” Terrible trench coat teacher says with a shrug, backing away, much to the relief of Midoriya-kun and his friends who all converge around him protectively.

“Class 1-A,” Headmaster Nedzu says, “I’d like to introduce you to the newest batch of Agents.”

And in response, some of the apparently not actually civilian class of volunteers bow. Or smile and wave. Or, weirdly, for one girl with purple hair, flip off Bakugou-kun while sticking her tongue out... okay, maybe not that weird, not everyone is as tolerant of his awful personality.

"What are Agents?"

* * *

There's undercover, and then there's Undercover. Underneath the underneath, as it were.

Because, yes, a literal invisible girl would not only excel but also bloom as an undercover Hero--but that could only ever be her full time job. The thing she would be known for, and known everywhere for.

Everywhere she went, she'd be the Invisible Girl; there'd be no escaping her life as a Hero.

But an undercover hero who had a life outside of their heroism? Who weren't Heroes--whose name and faces (or lack thereof) were known to the world--but heroes who also happened to be engineers or detectives or florists or lawyers or doctors or ramen chefs or librarians or whatever else they wanted to be. And there lay the problem:

A boy who could erase quirks would have been the perfect Agent. Subtle, smart, able to fade into the crowd. Just another civilian by day, hero-with-a-lower-case-h at night. But Shouta had only ever wanted to be a Hero.

By the time anyone thought to ask Kakashi what he wanted, it was already too late.


	2. [[Behind the Scenes/Author’s Notes]]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[I was being very ambitious with this crossover/fusion and I ended up doing more world building than actually appeared in the fic. While there are some things I will leave alone for possible future installments in this world, there are some notes on some scenes or tidbits that I thought people might find interesting. Selfishly, it’s nice to have an easily findable place of my thought process and/or internal headcanons so that if/when I do write those possible future installments I won’t have to search through the millions of google docs in my drive and figure out which EXCHANGE ASSIGNMENT DUE MONTH-DAY file corresponds to this fic. Also--this might be because I haven’t written a piece this long before or because I haven’t written much recently--but I had A LOT OF FUN with this exchange and I feel like it would be nice to remember the process.]]
> 
> [[Anyway, there’s no change to the actual text so you can totally disregard this chapter. Sorry for maybe getting people’s hopes up with a “chapter update,” but do not worry: if I DO make those possible future installments they will be separate pieces put in the same series.]]
> 
> [[Also, Charientist, I’m glad you enjoyed your gift! Hopefully this will also be a fun little mini gift.]]

**_[[To start with, the title comes from a Shannon L. Alder quote “You don’t have to say everything to be a light. Sometimes a fire built on a hill will bring interested people to your campfire.” I have no idea who Shannon L. Alder is, but I looked up “spotlight quotes” and this was the coolest one that showed up even though there isn’t actually the word spotlight. And then the idea that Aizawa and Kakashi would find each other even if they’re not really trying to just kind of fit thematically...]]_ **

* * *

**_[[I always knew I wanted to start with a “Shiho has an investigation board about Kakashi’s youth as a public Hero sidekick” and have news articles tracking his life. Although originally there was more about White Fang and Yellow Flash (and Kushina!) than, specifically, child Hero Kakashi. The shape of him was supposed to be between them. But then I realized, in order for him to have a sort of “his reputation precedes him, even though he’s become an underneath the underneath hero” he had to have had a big impact even as a sidekick, though I had not yet figured out his hero name.]]_ **

Shiho is in hell.

“Next time, I want a bigger haul. This one was barely anything,” Enomoto from next door complains, a pointed glare sent in Shiho’s direction as if the six duffel bags on his apartment floor were full of trash and not stacks upon stacks of cash they had successfully stolen from a currency exchange shop.

A heist that she is less than proud to say she planned, but more than proud to say didn’t involve any casualties whatsoever even with Enomoto and his friends shooting their quirks off in intimidation or impatience or even just boredom.

“Your cut,” Enomoto says, tossing a thin bundle her way, the rest of the crew jeering as they pawed through the rest of loot.

A quick glance told her it was barely enough to cover her rent in their awful apartment building, much less have enough to put towards her get-out-of-hell fund.

“Don’t spend it all in one place,” he adds, a final cruelty as she retreats, as if in unnecessary reminder that no matter what she did, he would always find her. Would always find his cash cow.

Some people might find it romantic to be considered the most valuable thing another person has ever seen. Shiho would bet they wouldn’t feel the same if they knew it was literal.

She locks her front door, one-two-three, and even though she can still hear their voices through the thin walls, she at least feels a little bit better, a little bit safer. She splits her cut into twenty separate tiny rolls and secretes them into different places around her apartment. Not that she thinks Enomoto will actually rob her--hasn’t she already given him enough?--but at this point, it’s become another tiny rebellion against him.

But she knows, even if it’s terrifying to even consider, she’ll have to step it up if she wants this hellish status quo to end.

**_[[Shiho being the reluctant mastermind of a bunch of heists came out of nowhere. Before I realized she was probably only 16/17 and only seemed like an adult in comparison to the Konoha Twelve, I had some thoughts about her either being part of a Hero Agency’s support department or working in a library. But the former didn’t really make sense for her to have so much time to devote to the investigation board/not just using her connections to talk to the support department of whatever Minato/Kakashi’s previous agency to figure things out; and the latter was just kind of boring? Or, at least, the stakes weren’t high enough that she would want to jump at the chance to join the underneath the underneath heroes considering the few things we do know about her includes her being risk averse.]]_ **

**_[[And in fusing the two worlds together I realized that since joining the military didn’t implicitly give better education/career opportunities the way that being a ninja in the Naruto world did, that Shiho wouldn’t be an Agent from the start. So her being found by criminals and falling through the cracks because there is no Konoha to watch over her made sense. The scope of populations are so much bigger in BNHA. I think I was considering her becoming a yakuza accountant, but then there’s actual BNHA yakuza lore and I didn’t want to mess with that.]]_ **

Shiho goes to her uncomfortable second-hand sofa and begins pulling off the cushions. They thunk against the floor, more filing folder than pillow at this point, and as she empties them of their contents the intel from the currency exchange shop spill out. Maps and blueprints and employee logs, a copy of security camera footage from the convenience store across the street because actually getting some from the currency exchange shop was too hard.

Everything about this job was harder than Enomoto would have preferred. Not hard enough to be impossible--she knows better than to set the crew up for failure--but hard enough that it should have slowed them down. Just slow enough that one of the Hero patrols might have been able to notice. Might have been able to stop it.

She sighs, setting up everything she needs to dispose of the intel--mostly burning in a metal trash can out on the tiny space called a balcony--she should know better than to rely on outliers like Heroes. But she still… she eyes the pullout bed part of the sofa, a worrying mechanism more rust than metal. It would grievously harm anyone who tried to sleep on the thing, but that’s not why it brings her comfort.

And given the kind of day it’s been, she needs it. She finds the strap and tugs, the unfolding motion smooth and nearly silent despite all appearances.

If for some reason a normal person were to enter her apartment, the sheer lumpiness and hideousness of the sofa would put them off the idea of interacting with it. If a less normal, more inquisitive person for some reason decided to inspect the sofa, they’d find heist plans within the cushions and think that were it. If an extremely thorough person unafraid of tetanus were to continue their search, they’d find, instead of a flea-ridden mattress, an investigation board full of old newspaper and magazine clippings, printed out blog posts from sites long since taken down and blurry screenshots of videos no longer available.

**_[[The pull out sofa bed was inspired by the terrible sofa bed at my dad’s house which is probably older than me. The investigation board was going to be just the opposite side of the heist planning board but that seemed a) real dumb because it would be easily findable and b) real dumb because if she’s doing so many heists she’d either have to transfer the investigation board or take down the heist info every time instead of a quick “burn it all” disposal method. I think Shiho would actually cry if she had to burn her investigation board. I mean, she definitely is uncomfortable with disposing of the heist intel even if it is for crime because INFORMATION IS INFORMATION.]]_ **

Before Enomoto found her, Shiho used her quirk for fun. Or, well, her version of fun. Data analysis isn’t the most exciting of quirks--and she was already a somewhat shy person besides--but it was still fun making the connections between things that no one else would see. That no one else would even think to look for. And she knows better than to rely on outliers like Heroes. But still… 

She’s not looking for a hero. Not. Not really, not the way people might think, to be saved or anything like that. She’s in hell, but it’s not something a Hero with a flashy quirk and a smile is going to save her from. She’s looking for a hero because it’s nice to use her quirk for something that isn’t crime, for herself instead of Enomoto. She’s looking for a hero because somewhere in the scraps of information she’s cobbled together, connected in a loose timeline, is a trace of someone who, like her, has somehow fallen through the cracks. Someone who is forgotten and missing. Someone who is lost. She knows no one is looking for her, but it makes her feel better to look for this hero in exchange.

She knows better than to rely on it, but still--she can dream can’t she?

 **_Hero Wedding Of The Decade: Last Year’s Most Eligible Bachelor White Fang Off The Market!_ ** _[Hero Weekly, Issue 627, January 2X28]_

 **_Youngest UA Graduate: How Young Is Too Young?_ ** _[The Mirror, Op-Ed, March 2X40]_

 **_30 Under 30 Heroes: #4 YELLOW FLASH_ ** _[Forbes List, 2X40 Edition]_

 **_WHITE FANG DISGRACED: Former Top 5 Hero, White Fang, responsible for Galidra Massacre?_ ** _[Tokyo News, November 2X41]_

**_[[It’d be weird to throw a world war in here, so I had Sakumo cause a massacre instead. In the sense that, he was fighting a Villain and in order to save his fellow Heroes, he let the Villain get away. A few days later, that Villain does one of the biggest mass murders of the century. People--incorrectly, but unsurprisingly--blame Sakumo.]]_ **

**_[[In not necessarily lighter news, Galidra is based on the planet Galidraan where the True Mandalorians and the Jedi did a battle and A Lot of People Died. Gotta get those Horikoshi-esque Star Wars cameos in there.]]_ **

**_Heroic Hotties To Keep Your Eye On!_ ** _[Teen Hero Beat, Issue 483, April 2X43]_

 **_Quirk Alteration After Optical Transplantation_ ** _[Japan Medical Association Journal, July 2X45]_

 **_FLASH IN THE PAN: Rise and Fall of a Hero, Remembering Yellow Flash_ ** _[TIME, October 2X45]_

**_[[I was originally thinking about writing little blurbs for each of the articles, but I realized that wouldn’t necessarily ADD anything and would mess with the flow. Also, that’d be hard O_O But. I did have a lot of fun doing research on headlines, publications, and coming up with the hecking timeline. The Teen Hero Beat one still makes me laugh. So does the 30 Under 30 Forbes List.]]_ **

**_[[I did the X with the year because I vaguely headcanon that BNHA is an alternative future, but it doesn’t seem too far in the future so it could be 2050 or 2350 or maybe I’m wrong and it is way in the future and it’s 2950 but I dunno. We’ve already established time doesn’t exist in the Naruto world, so surely that’s spread into this fusion too.]]_ **

“This is good work,” a voice says and Shiho startles, gaze drawn away from her investigation board. A shadowy figure stands on the other side of the gutted sofa, features difficult to parse even though the way the light is set up in Shiho’s apartment means the figure should be completely visible. Despite the fact that the figure is smaller than Shiho and, for all the voice is probably meant to be gravelly, likely younger than her, she is frozen. Caught.

“Oh, you even have a picture of Sensei in his first hero costume!” The figure adds, carefully tapping one of the blurry screenshots, “He’s going to be so embarrassed. He’s so tiny,” the figure practically coos.

What? Who? How? Why?

**_[[Also originally, it WAS supposed to be Kakashi and the rest of Team Seven swooping in to extract Shiho and arrest Enomoto and the gang. But given Kakashi’s questionable existence (he’s basically a cryptid to her) is her arguable… not obsession… but main source of enjoyment/hope/relaxation it wouldn’t make sense for Shiho not to recognize him. And I also liked the idea of the investigation board focusing more on being a symbol of hope in desperate times than for it to actually not-literally summon a hero to rescue her. Hence Shikako as a shadowy figure and the rest of Red Team next door. Also-also, there's no way Kakashi would have chosen to be the one to deal with the spooked rescuee instead of getting to intimidate the assholes next door so he would have sent one of his adorable students anyway.]]_ **

“Are you here to… get rid of me?” Shiho knows she’s not important. Not so important that she couldn’t easily be disposed of if she proves to be too much of a problem. It almost doesn’t matter who this figure is-- if they’re a Hero and have found out Shiho’s been helping out with her neighbor’s heists, then she’s a criminal to be arrested. If they’re a Villain then this investigation board is either a betrayal of allegiance at best or, she gives a shaky breath, proof that she’s been holding back her quirk. She--

Shiho tries to minimize the bad her quirk does. When Enomoto and his crew go out, she plans around the guard rotations so they can be avoided instead of fighting and possibly killing them. She only targets places that have insurance so it doesn’t affect the people working there or the customers. She doesn’t know who Enomoto works for--her quirk doesn’t just turn off, she knows that twenty percent of their ill-gotten gains always disappears--but she wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a Villain of some sort. And if a Villain discovers she can find out the identities of heroes--

**_[[I am a little ashamed to say but there was supposed to be follow through on that “twenty percent of the heist money disappears to a Villain” thread. As a very tiny mission thing. It kind of relates to Ami’s section. But then I decided to focus on 1-A and the Konoha kids meeting and forcing Aizawa and Kakashi to interact because of that rather than through a joint mission thing so I dropped it.]]_ **

“No,” the figure says, and even though their face is still somehow covered by shadows, Shiho can practically hear the eye roll. “I’m not here to get rid of you, Shiho Hisajima. I’m here to recruit you.”

**_[[Shikako rolling her eyes and saying cool shit to overwhelmed/baffled people is basically how I end every installment of Shikako Nara’s Guide to Delinquency and Military Insurrection, so if anything were to have given my identity away it would have been this.]]_ **

* * *

From one of the Agency’s mission control rooms, Shikaku watches footage as Agent Hawk and most of Red Team quickly and quietly subdue and apprehend the crew of thieves responsible for over a dozen heists around the greater Tokyo area. On another monitor is footage from Agent Bat’s camera as she brings in Shiho Hisajima.

He’s both proud and a little sad at how successful his daughter is, though that probably has more to do with how desperate Shiho is to leave--packing her meager belongings on the offer of a dorm room at the Agency--than anything else. Though it was right to send Agent Bat to her first, as even with how eager Shiho is to leave, the girl flinches at the appearance of the rest of the Red Team.

“Data Analysis, and such a powerful manifestation! Oh, what I could have done with that,” Nedzu complains, but it’s more a strange attempt at humor. They are frequent enough allies that Shikaku would consider the headmaster a friend of sorts, and so he knows to play along.

“It’s too late for enrollment, and she’d only get three months before graduation.” Shikaku counters, “At this point in the year, your students are already mostly at their internships. She would have gone to me anyway; this is just expedient.”

Needless to say, even if she had wanted to go to UA, the school’s entrance exams weren’t exactly kind to the less showy quirks. No, better to get her settled, away from her life of crime, then let her figure out what she wanted to learn after.

**_[[So primarily this was a fill for Charientist’s Request #5 which did ask for Aizawa Shouta & (or /) Hatake Kakashi. Which is what I started writing for even though my Kakashi voice is not my strongest and I don’t know that much about Aizawa. But then I spotted Request #7 which asked for Nara Shikaku & Nedzu and the idea that these two are definitely Adults as compared to Kakashi “saddest string bean to ever live” and Aizawa “all I need are cats and sleep” made me realize that someone needed to be responsible for shoving the two towards each other because there’s no way they’d have the initiative to do it themselves. And, dudes, balancing that line of training child soldiers and protecting children is a real bizarre struggle.]] _ **

“I know many Hero agencies that could use more brains in their support department,” Nedzu says under his breath, but loud enough to share the joke.

“I know many Hero agencies that could use more brains,” Shikaku banters easily.

“I know many Heroes that could use more brains!” the headmaster rejoins.

“Then you better get working on that instead of poaching from me,” the Agency Commander neatly concludes.

There is a moment where they let the levity linger, before Nedzu asks, “You’re being rather over protective, don’t you think?”

The look Shikaku sends is sharp but short as his gaze returns to the footage and drafting a follow up mission: yes, they’ve neutralized this particular threat, reallocating their planner and arresting the crew of thieves. But without knowing how they contact their boss, or who their boss even is, things could get… loud. Somewhere a Villain is going to find their finances abruptly restricted and who knows how they’ll react... this may be something he’ll have to kick up to the Hero agencies. Troublesome.

“I think I’m being the exact amount of protective,” he says. Shiho Hisajima has been exploited by her neighbor for years--immediately extracting her from the situation when she clearly wants to leave is only the smallest amount of decency he can provide. “She’s still a child.”

Nedzu gives as skeptical a glance a rodent can give, “Not her,” he says, gesturing to the video of Shiho. “Him,” he then points at a different part of the screen. The part of the screen showing Shiho’s investigation board piecing together lost connections of a not-so-forgotten, not-so-missing hero. After all, the sullen, scowling sidekick in those blurry old photos hardly counts as a child anymore.

It’s strange to see Kakashi in a uniform that isn’t the Agency’s bland, identical monochrome. A reminder that he was trained to be a Hero before choosing to become an Agent.

Shikaku gives an equally skeptical look right back, “And yours is?” He doesn’t have to clarify in order for Nedzu to understand which non-child he is referring. Given their positions, neither of them should be sentimental about their employees, but they're smart enough to realize it’s an inevitability.

And given their positions, well. There was another time when the Agency Commander met with UA’s Headmaster, talking about the boy who would become Eraserhead.

**_[[I should clarify--mostly for my future self--because Konoha and the Elemental Nations don’t exist, Shikaku isn’t THE Agency Commander. By which I mean, he is THE Agency Commander of the Agency that is in charge of the Kanto region. The different ninja villages correspond to the other regions of Japan--haven’t quite decided which one is which and which of the minor villages count since there are eight regions of Japan and five “main villages” in Naruto--but the different Agencies also all have different naming schemes. Which will come up again later in Ami’s section, but while the “Konoha” Agency are creatures, the other Agencies do types of minerals/gemstones, musical terms, etc. etc.]]_ **

Nedzu nods, acceding the point then, after a moment, switching tracks, “Speaking of, I was thinking about a joint training event for 1-A and some of your younger Agents. From what I’ve seen, I think it would be interesting.”

“You think they can handle it?” Shikaku asks, clearly referring to the UA students. He is confident in his Agents’ capabilities, no matter their age.

“We’ll see,” Nedzu deflects, “They’ve been through quite the number of ordeals already. I’d like to hope they’d perform admirably even when their lives aren’t in danger.”

* * *

The first time Kakashi and Shouta met, Kakashi was still the public sidekick Lightsaber and Shouta was a student of UA’s General Department Class 1-C.

**_[[Yes. I did make Kakashi’s Hero name Lightsaber. Here are the reasons: 1) he became a public sidekick before he even met Obito, much less got the Sharingan, so all of his canon nicknames don’t really work as Hero names, 2) his main thing before Obito and the Sharingan were either related to his dad or Chidori. I didn’t want to call him Chidori since I’m pretty sure that stays a cool ability in the fusion and also, as a Hero name, it makes no sense, 3) White Light Chakra Sabre. Inherited from his dad. Nothing to do with Obito or the Sharingan. Drop the White and Chakra and you get Light Sabre. 4) Horikoshi is real into Star Wars.]]_ **

This was before early graduation had been banned and so, for all that they were the same age, one had four more years of practical field experience than the other. Four more years of physical and mental trauma than the other, Kakashi would have said… were he inclined to do any speaking. Which he wasn’t.

At first, the only voice in UA’s infirmary was Recovery Girl’s.

But then Shouta had been sent there for a bloody nose, a smattering of bruises, and a broken wrist. Getting into fights with 1-B students, he reported in a mumble, to which Recovery Girl chastised with a simple “Again?” before gesturing Shouta to the other bed. In the first bed, Kakashi--there for a third opinion on his new left eye--continued to say nothing.

**_[[So now is about the time where I admit that I’ve never actually consumed any canon for BNHA: all of my knowledge for it is via fanfiction and whatever other osmosis hits me through my tumblr dash. So when I said I don’t really know much about Aizawa, I meant that in as honest a way as possible. So I don’t know if he canonically started in the Hero Department, but I kinda assumed he had a similar path to Shinso Hitoshi in that his quirk wouldn’t really help him in the entrance exams so he was put in the General classes, but he Worked Hard to Prove Himself and, also, kept fighting with students who were in the Hero classes.]]_ **

But he and Shouta glanced at each other briefly while Recovery Girl quickly set and healed Shouta’s wrist.

Had things been even the slightest bit different, that would have been that. A mere chance meeting. A tiny incident to be casually mentioned one day in the future--if they even remembered at all--nothing more than that.

But Recovery Girl, ever efficient, had decided to ‘catch two villains with one quirk’ so to speak and had asked Shouta to contribute his to the matter.

Quirk activated, Shouta met the eyes of a boy who had everything he dreamed of. Quirk suppressed, Kakashi hesitantly opened his new left eye and didn't immediately pass out. 

“Oh good, this is progress at least,” Recovery Girl remarked, as she took tests, made diagnostic measurements, and muttered terrible things under her breath about brilliant but incomprehensible quirks. It certainly hadn’t seemed like she needed conversational input from either of them--fortunately, considering Kakashi still wasn’t talking and Shouta had no idea what the situation even was, beyond the fact that Recovery Girl had asked for his help and he could give it--and so she let the two of them stare each other down in relative silence.

If that had been all, it still wouldn't have meant much. Even that much could have been relegated to an interesting anecdote for later. Something to be told in a bar after a rough, but successful patrol, ‘that time I met Lightsaber when he was still a sidekick.’ But Shouta could still hear the jeers and taunts of the 1-B students: if they had the right of it, he’d never become a Hero, would never have that bar night after a rough, but successful patrol--and it made him uncharacteristically brash. 

"I'd give anything to be in your place," Shouta divulged, eye contact required but no less intimate.

**_[[Continuing with the “I don’t know that much about Aizawa” I originally thought his quirk required eye contact. Like. Meeting eyes. Not just within his field of view eye contact. I’m gonna say creative license. Also, he’s a kid here and isn’t as powerful as his canon adult self. Also-also, it’s just more compelling and entertaining if these two are forced to make awkward eye contact with each other.]]_ **

He hadn't meant any harm with it, is the thing. He was a teenage boy who could only see someone his age already living the dream. He hadn't meant for his words to strike so hard. He didn’t have the context for how it might be interpreted, couldn’t understand his own cruelty. He had been heedless, but not callous. There had been no intent to hurt… 

… but still it cut Kakashi to the quick. Sharper than the blade that stole his original eye, more accurate than Rin's energy scalpels, deeper than the sword his father had used to--Kakashi made a barely audible noise and closed his eyes. Confused, Shouta blinked and broke the connection. Recovery Girl huffed in protest, but shrugged it off, having collected more than enough data to send a report to Tsunade.

It could have ended there. A chance meeting, a poorly made remark, an embarrassing and rueful tale for an older, wiser Shouta to recall. Why youthful dreams weren’t everything, not if they weren’t partnered with consideration and kindness.

That could have been it, the interaction done and over, had Kakashi kept quiet. Kept the hurt inside. But he already had so much hurt inside, his outward wounds only the smallest reflection, and he couldn't swallow this little bit down. Not that he could be expected to do so. Not that he should have, even if he could.

"I'd rather die," Kakashi responded, the words rasped out, scraped against his nerves, against his will. The first words he’d said in weeks that even Recovery Girl looked up from her work and stared. Because he was just a teenage boy who had given so much--too much--practically everything and ended up in a place he never wanted to be. Would never want anyone else to be, because then they would know far too much about loss, too.

Were Kakashi better at communicating, he could have phrased it differently: turn back, I am living a nightmare and I can't wake up, I've lost so much--too much--practically everything and it's not worth it, turn back. This life is worth less without the people who believed in me. I never wanted to be a Hero, I just wanted to make my heroes proud. I would never choose this... 

… but he, too, was a teenage boy who had better control of his quirk than his words.

"I'd give anything to be in your place," Shouta said and Kakashi heard: "Everything you've lost was worth it."

"I'd rather die," Kakashi said and Shouta heard: "You are doomed to fail."

There could be no letting matters lie after that.

**_[[I didn’t mean for them to be so antagonistic from the get go. Kakashi is real bad at communicating and, also, a giant sore spot. Everything hurts. Even if Aizawa is better at talking to people in canon, he’s a teenage boy here and also does not know the context. It’s kind of a good thing that I knew I wasn’t going for romance because this would have made that goal basically impossible. Instead I decided to focus on their continuously crossing paths both literally and metaphorically.]]_ **

* * *

Ami doesn’t entirely hate her internship at the inn, but it’s not exactly what she would call fun either.

**_[[This is not my first time writing Ami. It’s an interesting POV. And I figured, hey, if I have Shiho, then Shikaku & Nedzu talking, then a flashback of Kakashi and Aizawa then what if I just did the same thing but different. So there’s Ami, then All Might and Maito Gai, and then another flashback. A cool girl, two dudes, then a flashback… but that pattern kinda broke down at the end? Hm… anyway, I figured, Ami would be a good look into what a “normal” Agent does and help out with worldbuilding.]] _ **

“Excuse me, honorable customers,” Kuwabara-senpai says politely as she knocks on the door of the Wisteria Suite, “We’ve brought your breakfast this morning.”

**_[[This is an easter egg more for me and the peeps I play Legends of Sunshine with, but the character I play does come from the Kuwabara clan who run an onsen as their non-ninja cover. This Kuwabara is not my character, but I just wanted to incorporate the clan anyway.]]_ **

Ami, as the youngest member of the hotel’s staff, is thankfully not expected to say anything to the customers and in fact has been encouraged not to do so. Which is ideal, honestly, because she still has trouble keeping the servile tones when speaking to the less problematic customers, much less hiding the scowl of disgust that wants to cross her face when the suite door opens.

In matching, loosely hanging open, complimentary robes, the old man who reserved the Wisteria Suite for the month and a young woman who wasn’t the one who arrived with him (or the woman from yesterday, or the woman from last week) barely manage to take their hands off each other long enough to let Kuwabara-senpai and Ami in. Even with keeping her eyes down, she sees way more skin--wrinkled and not--than she would prefer.

Swiftly, they place the trays down on the table, Kuwabara-senpai spouting a few more bland niceties that go unsurprisingly ignored, before finally taking their leave with matching (if shallower than etiquette would demand) bows.

Ami’s scowl escapes less than five steps from the Wisteria Suite, and even though Kuwabara-senpai maintains her poise throughout the hallways of the inn, once they get back to the kitchen, a small wrinkle of her nose gives her away.

Ami laughs, only mostly mocking.

“Machinaga-dono is a valued customer,” Kuwabara-senpai protests, though the twitching at the corner of her mouth is less than convincing, “He always reserves the Wisteria Suite for a full month. It’s one of our more expensive rooms. A reliable customer.”

“A predictable customer,” Ami adds, “An easy to assassinate, nearly poisoned multiple times, predictable customer.”

“Yes,” Kuwabara-senpai admits, easily. “But that’s what we have you for,” she says, and Ami smirks, pleased. “It would be terrible if a member of parliament died in our establishment.”

**_[[So that through line of the twenty percent of the heists from Shiho’s section was supposed to connect here. In that, Machinaga was getting bribes from the mysterious Villain boss in order to overlook some Villainous activity. When the money from Enomoto dried up, the Villain decided to, uh, consider cheaper options through attempted murder. But since I didn’t follow through on that, I guess it’s just other people who want to poison him?]]_ **

“But not if he died elsewhere?” Ami asks, dryly.

Kuwabara-senpai meets her eyes and pointedly raises one brow, “He’s not my responsibility elsewhere, now is he?” 

Ami is momentarily taken aback. Kuwabara-senpai is speaking as the waka-okami, the heiress to this ryokan and its entire chain of inns. Of course her responsibility is to protect her legacy. But, still...

Ami opens her mouth to respond--responsibility or location shouldn’t make someone’s death any less terrible even if they are predictable and corrupt and perverted and having a somehow still secret series of affairs--when her mobile phone chirps a notification at her.

**_[[I have a headcanon--greatly inspired by BoPeepWithNoSheep’s Hard Work and Easy Achievements--that Ami is just incredibly civically-minded. So she’s a jerk, but she believes in Society and Moral Responsibility. She’s one of those people who have strong feelings about civic duty and cannot understand when people don’t take voting seriously. In alignment terms, she’s strongly Lawful and bounces between Neutral and Good. The Kuwabara are not that.]]_ **

Normally, staff members aren’t allowed to keep their phones on them during working hours and certainly not where their noise could disturb the customers, but Ami’s phone is only set to make audible notifications for a very specific contact. And she’s not exactly a normal staff member here.

“Another mission already, Agent Possum?” Kuwabara-senpai says carefully, neatly concluding their previous conversation and tacitly giving Ami permission to leave early.

**_[[I originally wanted Ami to be Agent Opossum (which is a different creature of a similar name) because like Opossums, she has a bad reputation but is actually very helpful to keeping the ecosystem clean of vermin. And also, she just gives off Opossum vibes. With the whole teeth baring thing. Then I found out her name could translate to Opossum Shrimp which was also cool. But Opossum is kind of unwieldy a word and it gets shortened to Possum anyway even if Possums are different creatures and it causes confusion.]]_ **

It could only have come from the one contact, really, but Ami checks her phone to confirm anyway: **C-rank Priority Agent Recall** , reads the subject line. Ami sighs, “Yes, I have to go. I’ll--” Ami hesitates, “I’ll see you later?”

Kuwabara-senpai smiles and Ami can feel a flush of heat spread across her cheeks. “Yes, next week,” she responds simply, and while Ami turns to leave she adds a soft, “Good luck, Ami-san,” which for some incomprehensible reason causes Ami’s face to flush further. But she’s already leaving and no one is looking so it’s fine.

**_[[Didn’t realize Ami would have a crush on Kuwabara until this wrote itself. It made a lot of sense, though, so I didn’t fight it.]]_ **

She quickly changes out of her uniform in the staff locker rooms, scowl firmly back in place. As she leaves for the train station, she skims her phone for further details: the C-rank Priority Agent Recall was sent to twenty agents, most of them from her original training batch with a few from the year above. Civilian identities, casual clothes, covert operations training at--

“UA?” Ami sneers under her breath, even as she boards the line that will get her to Musutafu.

It’s not like Ami has a problem with Heroes. They’re fine, or whatever. They have their place in society and sometimes extreme problems require extreme solutions and Heroes fill a much needed role to be said solutions, yadda yadda. Ami’s fine with Heroes as a concept.

What she doesn’t like are wannabe Heroes: people with loud quirks and loud dreams and no common sense or decency at all. As if having a powerful quirk will carry them through life. What she doesn’t like are the people who want the celebrity status but not the civic duties involved in being a Hero.

Ami knows her quirk isn’t flashy, isn’t the kind of thing that will make the news, isn’t going to make her a Hero with a capital H--not that she even wants that--but it will save lives. She will save lives. She’s already saved a few lives though, admittedly, maybe not as many some of her other fellow agents.

“Ami-chan! Over here!” one of said other fellow agents call out, waving at her, like Ami couldn’t see the rest of them gathering outside the gates of UA.

“Don’t be so familiar, Billboard Brow,” Ami sneers, largely ignoring the eye rolls from the rest of their training batch, “And no need to shout, as if I couldn’t see your forehead from three blocks away,” she adds, reflexively.

Although, unlike when they were younger, Billboard Brow sticks her tongue out in response, letting the admittedly childish insults roll off her disgustingly muscular back--another thing that’s changed since they first started training.

**_[[This is more a note for future me, although hopefully interesting to you: the Agents don’t necessarily go to the same school. From the names, you can probably tell that I mixed some ANBU into it. And, again, the sheer scope of Tokyo alone (much less the entire Kanto region) vs Konoha means that it would be nuts if all the Agents were actual classmates. Like, at that point, they’re just another UA but for undercover heroes specifically. So my idea was that they’re at different schools and have kind of cram school except that cram school is to be a secret agent. So they’re trained in batches, not classes. I did actually figure out the twenty agents and their code names so if anyone’s interested, let me know. Spoilers? Towa and Komachi are not here because they were from an older training batch.]]_ **

“As charming as ever, Ami,” Airhead Princess remarks all judgemental, flipping her blonde ponytail over her shoulder, as if she’s made some kind of point or like Ami even cares what she thinks.

“Whatever, so are we doing this or not? I have better things to do on a Saturday,” she says, crossing her arms.

“Like mooning over your client’s daughter?” Airhead Princess says for a no doubt idiotic reason, clearly off base and grasping at straws, but the drama of it has Billboard Brow gasping in nosy delight.

“We’re waiting for Kakashi-sensei,” interrupts Nerdy Braid before Ami can properly put Airhead Princess in her place and correct her on her completely wrong theories. “But Anko-sensei is taking attendance, if you want to let her know you’re here already,” she continues with a completely unnecessary and thus useless glance in that direction.

“Fine,” Ami says gruffly, walking towards her cousin. Anko-nee greets her with a smirk, asking after Ami’s internship and mussing her hair annoyingly, before waving her away and getting all handsy with the next teen agent reporting in. Her scowl and hurried hair fixing is entirely too real for all that it’s also a cover to read through the instructions Anko-nee passed her. Coded, of course:

**_[[Headcanon, more based off appearance and vaguely personality--although there is the whole Ami works at a teashop and Anko’s name is sweets related and also she can do dumb shit like throwing skewers at the wall in the shape of the Konoha leaf and not get banned from a dango shop. Anyway, Ami and Anko are related; cousins, probably.]]_ **

A list of five names--UA students, obviously--to be tagged in sequential order. If they go out of order or come in contact with a different student not on their list, they must start over from the top. And above all, cover must be maintained. Their cover being, apparently, a group of civilian high schoolers helping UA’s class 1-A with a training exercise.

As per protocol, Ami memorizes then destroys the instructions, ready to play her role.

So Ami obediently lines up with the rest of her group as they enter UA’s ridiculously massive training grounds, but she’s not going to be completely spineless, glaring at the shitty little grape who ogles Creepy Eyes (Girl Version). Ami ignores the stuttered thanks, instead choosing to kick out threateningly in that shitty little grape’s direction.

She doesn’t appreciate the way these UA students gloss over her, dismissing her as nothing more than the pretend hostages they’re supposed to be for their dumb training game. Ami knows that’s the point: she’s meant to practice being ‘underneath the underneath’ or whatever it is Kakashi-sensei likes to say, so being underestimated like this is a good thing.

But still. Super annoying. She doesn’t even try to hide her scowl, not like the chipper overly cheery try-hards in her group who are all smiling widely like the absolute lunatics they are. Then again, considering some of the missions they’ve already gone on, this really is more game than training… unless the whole ‘underneath the underneath’ bullshit means it’s cycled back to training and that’s what her classmates are actually excited about. Knowing those weirdos, that’s probably it.

But for the UA students, the exercise is easy--split in half between ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ it’s the job of each team to get as many of the ‘hostages’ to their base before the end of the simulation. Which will make following the instructions Ami and her fellow agents have been given all the more difficult.

Within her crossed arms, Ami clenches her fist. Ami’s quirk won’t help her. Her poison detection and neutralization is going to save lives--she’s going to save lives--but it won’t help her here. She only has her own skill to rely on. That’s fine.

She doesn’t need a flashy quirk to be a competent Agent. 

She meets eyes with the first name on her list and the jumped up Hero wannabe has the audacity to sneer at her, as if the mask and the grenades on his arms make him any better than her. That’s fine, too.

Ami bares her teeth right back.

**_[[As I was writing this, I realized that Ami basically is a weird mirror of Bakugou which is why I continue their interaction later. I mean Bakugou is all about Winning instead of Civic Duty and Ami’s whole “I’m great without my quirk, you’re just all flash” and Bakugo’s quirk is almost the flashiest of his class--but the mean nicknames, reflexive insults, aggressive personality, and self-discipline toward their goals are like--*clenches fist*--if their quirks weren’t so vastly unsuited to teaming up, I would want to do a future timestamp in which Ground Zero and Agent Possum have to work together and turn out to be a very efficient but self-irritating team… then again, Agents aren’t supposed to rely on their quirks so...]]_ **

* * *

Within the observation room, Toshinori is having a splendid conversation with one of the other school’s teachers: Maito Gai, a man especially enthusiastic about unorthodox methods for physical training--a man especially enthusiastic about a lot, it seems--which is an outlook and font of experience that Toshinori certainly appreciates. The conversation is gratifyingly engaging, though not too much so that he is unable to keep an eye on the training exercise as it unfolds on the monitors, the remarkable waves of irritation coming off of Aizawa-kun, or the way an unnamed masked man slinks into the room and leans casually against the wall as if he’d been in the room since the start and not, in actuality, an entire hour late.

Toshinori also doesn’t miss the way Aizawa-kun practically bristles at the unnamed masked man’s entrance and his pointed lack of actual eye contact.

“Kakashi!” Maito-kun greets enthusiastically, “I am overjoyed that you were able to locate us and have finally joined us!” The enthusiastically delivered but elegantly phrased scolding is punctuated with a wide grin and a thumbs up. Truly, this is a man Toshinori can learn much from.

The thus named masked man shrugs indolently, “Ah, well, I decided my day was free enough that I could watch my adorable students on their playdate.” A far less elegantly phrased response.

One so poorly phrased, in fact, that Aizawa-kun’s already palpable irritation spikes to an almost painful degree. 

“Your devotion to the youth is indeed admirable, My Eternal Rival!” Maito-kun responds, a bewildering exaggeration and even more bewildering epithet.

“Your Eternal Rival?” Toshinori asks, “Don’t you both teach the same class?”

“Hahaha, of course!” Maito-kun answers and doesn’t clarify whatsoever. His grin is wide and bright.

Toshinori grins wide and bright in kind.

**_[[This is it. This is the reason why I wrote this scene. All Might and Maito Gai brightly grinning at each other.]]_ **

“Oh no, there’s two of them,” mutters the masked Kakashi. Aizawa-kun, forgetting his irritation for a moment, makes an agreeing hum before returning to his sullenly silent state.

**_[[Also, I’m sorry this is the only vaguely positive interaction Kakashi and Aizawa have this entire fic.]]_ **

Over by the monitors, the other visiting teacher, Mitarashi Anko, clicks her tongue in irritation, “Come on, brats, I’ve got money riding on this.”

“Please don’t bet on our students,” Thirteen says firmly but politely.

“I’m not betting on your students,” Mitarashi responds--bold-faced denial or immediate acquiescence?--before clarifying with a smirk, “I’m betting on my students. Come on, let’s pick up the pace!” She yells at them, even though she isn’t using the intercom system and thus cannot be heard.

Thirteen starts to ask, “What do you mean by--” but it coincides with crashing sounds--concrete cracking, Toshinori recognizes the noise--and all of the teachers present turn their attention to the monitors, searching.

Not young Bakugou. Not young Todoroki. There would have been an explosion, or the creaking sound of ice. Not young Uraraka or young Iida, both of them on screen and safe. He discounts different students as he spots them, running through the list. Could it be? Toshinori can’t find young Midoriya--

“Please do not be alarmed, Yagi-san!” Maito-kun says, hand dropping onto Toshinori’s shoulder, “It is only my dear student Lee removing his weights! He has a youthful passion for dramatic presentation!”

Somewhat assured, though his eyes still seek out his successor, Toshinori asks, “He has weight training? Is that related to his quirk?” Perhaps that is an option he should bring up with young Midoriya.

“No, he is quirkless. But through hard work he has become the fastest amongst his batch--class. Amongst his class,” Maito-kun says, stumbling at the end, though it isn’t what Toshinori focuses on. Quirkless? 

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Thirteen voices before Toshinori can get his own thoughts together.

“What is?” Maito-kun asks, perfectly mild. And if that causes Mitarashi and the masked Kakashi to glance at each other, well. “Lee’s weight training has been vetted by our esteemed medics so as not to impair his development or health.”

“No, I mean, isn’t it dangerous having a quirkless student involved in this training exercise?” Thirteen clarifies, perhaps not heeding the way Maito-kun’s grin has dimmed. Not noticing the quick exchange of hand signals between Mitarashi and the masked Kakashi.

“Isn’t that what this game is all about?” Mitarashi butts into the conversation, bringing the attention on her as the masked Kakashi grips Maito-kun’s elbow and guides him away, “Just being a civilian is dangerous--they could be casualties or taken hostage at any time, right?” she asks, smirk sharp and baiting.

“But having a quirk makes it less so," Thirteen answers, "Even though this exercise is a simulation and not the real thing, a quirkless student would be in more danger than a student with a quirk.”

Mitarashi is quick to respond. “What if their quirk is something like, oh, breathing underwater? That’s not going to help them when an earthquake causes a building to collapse on them, or when a villain decides they want to have a convenient meat shield. I’d bet on Lee over some mystery random quirk any day.”

**_[[I’m sorry for getting preachy here. I’m sure there have been a lot of treaties of how Quirkless does not equal Weak or Useless and certainly better written than this. I do think that this is another big difference between Agents and Heroes, and I don’t know if I articulated it enough either here or in the above Ami section. Agents are trained to be capable even without their quirk; Heroes are trained to maximize the usefulness of their quirk. So even though Ami’s poison detection/nullification does help her quite a bit at her inn internship/mission, she is trained to be observant and tactical and etc such that she is an effective Agent even when her quirk doesn’t apply. Except in Lee’s case, because he has no quirk, he is only ever relying on his own capabilities. Whereas Heroes, let’s say Bakugou for example, don’t learn “what do I do when my explosions don’t apply to the situation” but “how do I make my explosions apply to the situation?” Yeah, a hammer can hit nails, but if you're careful, you can also use it as a spatula and make pancakes? I guess… now I’m sorry for making this author’s note preachy.]]_ **

“You shouldn’t be betting on any students,” Thirteen chastises, but before Mitarashi can argue, Aizawa-kun finally speaks:

“Why did… Lee… remove his weights?”

And though most of it remains hidden, Toshinori can somehow tell that on Kakashi’s face is a smile as sharp and baiting as Mitarashi’s. “To be faster, of course,” the masked man answers, faux sweet.

Aizawa-kun turns to glare at him, and though his quirk isn’t active, Toshinori somehow feels as if it should be--the tension of the room rising to a level beyond where it already was. “And why does he need to be faster?” Aizawa-kun says between gritted teeth.

And in a tone curled sardonic, Kakashi responds, “Now that’s the right question.”

**_[[Kakashi being a deliberate little shit. And this is why I went for the & and not the / ]] _ **

* * *

The first time undercover Hero Eraserhead met Agent Wolf, it was an accident. They were working separate missions that had collided in bewildering and unfortunately chaotic ways.

Still a sidekick during that time, Shouta had a point to prove about being a capable Hero even when his quirk only applied in certain situations. It was why he was so determined to infiltrate the Moncala dock workers even though his agency had already told him to stand down. Well, technically, they only told him to stop looking for the smugglers’ ship and their cargo. They never said not to go to the bar nearest the Moncala docks and buy some of the much deserving workers some well earned drinks. And maybe ask some questions. Possibly about smugglers.

**_[[Moncala, aka Mon Cala, another planet in Star Wars. Thank god Horikoshi already had a naming scheme I could just copy whenever I needed new place names.]]_ **

What Shouta did in his own free time was no one’s responsibility but his own.

Of course, it was during a particularly fruitful and surprisingly entertaining conversation that an explosion followed by a series of thuds in increasing volume made itself known, everyone’s drinks shaking as something huge shook the ground.

The dock worker Shouta was speaking to at that moment swore, he and his compatriots hurriedly readying themselves to vacate the premises. Shouta, already on his feet, did the same. And if he was using the same methods taught at UA about evacuating an active danger scene of civilians, well, was that not what was currently happening?

“What’s going on?” Shouta asked, even as he helped brace some of the bar patrons, the ground shaking more and more as whatever was the source of the quakes drew nearer and nearer.

“Boss said he had a new security plan,” the dock worker and, apparently, smuggler said, “He heard there were some Heroes sniffing around, decided to put a trap. But I don’t know what this is!” he explained, straight to a Hero’s face. Then, as they all cleared building, the majority of people fleeing the pier entirely, he didn’t have to explain anymore:

As Shouta looked to the water, a massive monster with spiky shells and undulating tails approached.

**_[[... iiiiiit’s Isobu!]]_ **

“Come on, kid, we gotta get out of here,” says the man who, smuggling aside, seemed like an okay guy. He reached for Shouta, as if to drag him along, but Shouta brushed it aside.

“I can’t,” Shouta said, pulling away, tugging at his capture weapon tucked beneath his jacket, “I have to stay and help.” It wouldn’t do much against a monster multiple stories tall, but it was all he had.

“What--are you crazy?”

That would have been the cinematic moment to turn confidently--the monster silhouetted behind him--and announce, no, he wasn’t crazy, he was a Hero. But Shouta had never been one for dramatics like that, so all he said was, “Yeah, probably. You should get out of here. And maybe reconsider your career choices,” before running towards the danger like the crazy person he was.

**_[[Aizawa is way more practical than Kakashi is. Kakashi is more of a drama queen than he thinks. Where do you think his students get those sassy one liners? It’s not from Iruka.]]_ **

Because that’s what Heroes did...

… and, ideally, also stop said danger.

But Shouta wasn’t a complete idiot, so he also brought out his phone as he ran, calling the agency for backup and reporting what he could of the situation. “Yeah, a giant turtle monster! No, I don’t see anyone--” he cut himself off, spotting a shape also moving toward the giant turtle monster approaching the pier. Maybe he spoke too soon.

“Hey! You!” Shouta called out, which wasn’t exactly the smartest way to confront an unknown person, but that’s what the capture weapon was for. As the wraps reached out, Shouta took in more of the suspect: bland, monochrome armor, dark hood, pale mask with red markings. Not any Hero outfit Shouta knew--and he had been taught all the active Heroes in the area, so as not to cause miscommunication on the field--which meant either a Vigilante or, worse, a Villain. Either way, someone that Shouta should definitely capture.

Except, as the cloth closed in, the suspect turned, arm whipping out with a bright white light, temporarily blinding Shouta and also leaving the ends of his capture weapon inert and in pieces on the ground.

“I don’t have time for this,” the masked suspect said, dismissive, before resuming his beeline for the monster “I have to make sure she doesn’t hurt anyone.”

What? She?

**_[[... iiiiiit’s Rin! She gets to live in this world! Yeah, that means Haku doesn’t get Isobu, but we Rin gets to be alive so that’s not a problem at all. Obito is still dead though… OR IS HE? O_O]]_ **

“She-You?” Shouta asked, following, “Who are you?”

“Doesn’t matter. Whoever you are, you should get out of here. It’s dangerous.”

Yeah, which was why Shouta was still here. But he grit his teeth, “I’m Eraserhead. I’m a Hero, I’m here to help.”

The masked suspect glanced his way and snorted, “In my experience, that’s not usually how it works.” But he seemed to do a double take, the painted mask eerie to look at straight on. “You’re the one who can suppress quirks,” he said, which was alarming but also, just a little bit, gratifying.

Because if even a probable Vigilante knew who Eraserhead was then that meant Shouta was succeeding… probably? But them knowing what he could do was… well… them knowing what he could do.

**_[[So I have a feeling--and yes, even though this is the world I made, I’m not entirely sure--that Agencies have not been around for very long. I know even less about the spinoff Vigilante BNHA Illegals, so this probably greatly contradicts it, but I kind of thought that all heroes were Vigilantes before systems were put into place and those that abided by those systems became Heroes and those that didn’t either stayed as Vigilantes (and thus, technically criminals still) or Villains. So in order to ameliorate that, and seeing that the amount of Vigilantes didn’t decrease much over time, Agencies were made such that people who would be Vigilantes but couldn’t be Heroes (either because the legality or the constant public eye or their quirks weren’t “good enough”) could have some kind of legal organization. So at this point in time, Agents are still relatively new or they’re still not directly working with Heroes. At most, Agents might work with the support teams of Hero agencies, but no team ups just yet. Well. Then this scene, obviously.]]_ **

“Come on,” the suspicious probable-Vigilante said, and for the second time tonight, someone reached for Shouta to bring him somewhere.

And for the second time tonight, Shouta brushed them off. “No,” he said, pride still stinging from the snub against Heroes.

“I thought you were here to help. Or do you want that--” the probable-Vigilante pointed toward the impossible-to-miss giant turtle monster, “--reaching shore?”

“What does that have to do with suppressing quirks?” Shouta asked, mind reeling from the idea that other people knew what he could do.

“You think that’s what she looks like normally?” the probable-Vigilante returned, tone practically dry enough to dispel the waves lapping at the pillars of the pier, and Shouta bristled despite himself.

**_[[So I mentioned earlier Rin having energy scalpels earlier, but then she also has Isobu? So I’m not entirely sure how the jinchuuriki mesh with the world of quirks. Because chakra doesn’t exist, so giant manifestation of chakra shouldn’t either? But they do… so I guess I have to figure that out in a future installment? I mean, I guess they could also be “inheritable quirks” similar to One For All but not a continuous stockpile?]]_ **

“How did she get that far out into the water before being a giant turtle?” he asked, ignoring the sarcasm, mind focused on the logistics of getting to and stopping a giant turtle monster out in the sea when neither he nor, presumably, the suspicious probable-Vigilante don’t have aquatic based quirks. “How do we get to her?” 

“Now that’s the right question,” the probable-Vigilante asked, and if it weren’t so patronizing, Shouta would probably appreciate it. “By the way, that’s Agent Otter.”

Weird name for a giant turtle monster.

Then, in a way that would make any cinematic director weep with joy at the dramatic framing and timing, the probable-Vigilante lifted up his creepy painted mask to reveal an annoyingly handsome and unfortunately recognizable face, “And I’m Agent Wolf.”

**_[[One liner drama queen!]]_ **

* * *

**_[[A Hagakure section, to match the Shiho and Ami sections. Except Hagakure doesn’t have much of a personality I could glean from osmosis and her wiki page so it’s a lot of exposition. Also, I was considering putting a whole “why is she not wearing clothes/why hasn’t the support department given her clothes/if the whole ‘clothes made from the person’s hair to work with the quirk’ works for Mirio Togata, why wouldn’t it work for her also” bit in there, but that seemed additionally preachy and I already used my preachy token with the Quirkless thing.]]_ **

**_[[Although, now that I’m thinking about it: does that mean anyone wearing Hagakure’s hair could go invisible or would it just be like a transparent on them? Because how does eating work for her? It’s not like you see food just floating around as she’s digesting. Or, like, does she bleed? Is her blood invisible? Dang... how does her quirk even work?]]_ **

When the training exercise finishes, neither the ‘hero’ or ‘villain’ teams having more ‘hostages’ than the other, Tooru lines up with the rest of her classmates to receive performance reviews from their teachers. Somewhat confusingly, the civilian class of volunteer ‘hostages’ also line up a few meters away, like a weird reflection in casual clothes. They don’t appear to be planning on leaving any time soon even though, with the exercise over and done with, surely there’s no reason for them to stay at UA?

It’s a thought she lets go when Aizawa-sensei, All Might, and Thirteen show up, trailed by three strange adults. And she does mean strange--the woman in an outfit that rivals even Midnight-sensei’s, one of the men in a bright green unitard that looks disturbingly similar to one of the students across the way, and the last with a mostly covered face wearing what looks like just some sweats. Considering his hair, Tooru wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out he had just rolled out of bed. She doesn’t remember her civilian teachers from middle school being so weird, but then again, she also didn’t really see them on the weekends so…

**_[[I have a feeling that Hagakure judges people by their clothes. Not in a mean way, but kind of the way people with prosopagnosia do. Since she doesn’t have a visible face, she probably got used to expressing herself with clothes/accessories. So she kind of applies the same standards to other people. Again, though, I know very little about her.]]_ **

“Congratulations, villain team, you win,” Aizawa-sensei says, to both loud cheers and louder complaints, depending on which side her classmates were on. Having been on the ‘villain’ team, Hagakure claps, pleased.

“What?” Kaminari-kun yells, “That’s not fair! We had the same number of hostages!”

“Yes,” All Might-sensei agrees, cutting off Kaminari-kun’s argument before it can properly start, “Which is why you lost. Villains having any number of hostages at the end counts as a mission failure. Heroes are supposed to try to save everyone. Not half of the people, not even most of the people. Everyone.”

Thoroughly chastised, Kaminari-kun sulks.

“And the people who don’t want to be saved?” Midoriya-kun asks. A weird question for him, considering he was on the ‘villain’ team, too, and also completely uncharacteristic of him to not want to save everyone.

“Even them,” All Might-sensei intones, “Especially them,” which would otherwise lead to a lecture about the philosophy of being a Hero…

Except for how Aizawa-sensei cuts in with, “What makes you say that?” he asks Midoriya-kun, gaze not on him but on the class of civilian volunteers who are... still here?

Midoriya-kun also looks at the other class, and so everyone’s attention turns that way. “There were definitely a few hostages who had been rescued but then left the ‘hero base’ even though that’s where they were safe. They weren’t taken by any of the ‘villains’ they just left on their own. And some of them deliberately walked toward some of the ‘villains’ but not all of them? And only after they’d run away...” he trails off, muttering, something going on in that big fluffy head of his.

**_[[I realized when I got to this point that this was a very unfair exercise. Especially with the Agents interfering and not doing what normal hostage would do which is stay with the safety of the “heroes.” That being said, I guess personal bias could influence the students assigned to be villains not to work as hard? But it’s still unfair. Couldn’t change it because I had no alternatives in mind and, well, sometimes life isn’t fair? Aizawa’s all about those tough, tricky lessons.]]_ **

**_[[Also, I have a feeling that Bakugou also noticed the weirdness but it was mostly suspicion and nothing concrete so he didn’t say anything but mostly glared suspiciously in Ami’s direction. Mostly I think he figured it out because of Ami because even though she clearly dislikes him, she kept having to “reset” her list and having to start with him. So… if he had a less overly antagonistic person who had him first on the list, he may not have noticed? Also-also, he was probably on the “hero” side and so wouldn’t have noticed the whole “hostage is walking towards me, a villain, which is not typical hostage behavior at all.” I have very conflicted feelings about Bakugou, but I cannot deny he is incredibly competent.]]_ **

“Is that so?” Aizawa-sensei asks, tone completely flat and not actually curious at all.

“That is so,” The weird mostly masked teacher in sweats says, which startles Tooru and some of her classmates. How did--even she hadn’t seen him approach!--but they were all looking in that direction?

Aizawa-sensei glares at him. “Will you be explaining that? Otherwise, I’ll have to ask you to take your class and leave,” he says through gritted teeth.

“Hm, no,” the weird masked teacher says, and even waves his civilian class to come closer.

“We appreciate your class joining us for this training exercise,” Thirteen-sensei tries to mitigate, “But we need to give our students performance reviews now. Unfortunately, they are unavailable to socialize.”

“Why not both?” the teacher in fishnets and a trench coat suggests, “Our brats can also tell your brats how they need to improve.”

Tooru bristles, along with nearly the rest of Class 1-A. Bakugou-kun goes so far as to add, “Say that to my face you--” insults and explosions cut off by Aizawa-sensei and his capture weapon.

“And should we do the same for them?” Midoriya-kun asks, drawing attention once more, “Tell your students how to improve, that is,” he clarifies, “Because I don’t think some of them were as subtle as they were supposed to be?”

Terrible trench coat teacher’s smirk grows wider and she leans in close to Midoriya-kun’s face which flushes a bright red but doesn’t look away, “Not bad, Rabbit,” she says, which doesn’t exactly answer Midoriya-kun’s or, now, Tooru’s questions.

“I’ll ask you not to poach from my students,” says a voice from about knee height. Headmaster Nedzu!

“Oh, fine,” Terrible trench coat teacher says with a shrug, backing away, much to the relief of Midoriya-kun and his friends who all converge around him protectively.

“Class 1-A,” Headmaster Nedzu says, “I’d like to introduce you to the newest batch of Agents.”

**_[[In the theme that Agencies are fairly new, this is an experimental thing to introduce future Heroes to the Agents they may work with in the future to each other while they are still training. Because there are Hero agencies that could use a little more brains in their support departments, whereas sometimes Agents need a little more firepower hence… early cross training?]]_ **

And in response, some of the apparently not actually civilian class of volunteers bow. Or smile and wave. Or, weirdly, for one girl with purple hair, flip off Bakugou-kun while sticking her tongue out... okay, maybe not that weird, not everyone is as tolerant of his awful personality.

**_[[Ami and Bakugou hate each other because they are so similar in personality but vastly different in beliefs. I just want them to suffer each other’s company and become better people for it. Not too much better, but a little bit better.]]_ **

"What are Agents?"

**_[[This would be the place to fit Charientist’s Request #6, Koda Koji & Aburame Shino but I didn’t know how to make the scene/POV jump and also to have it be immediately after the test felt kind of mean. Like. Hey, you have to confront your greatest phobia RIGHT NOW. It makes sense as a future timestamp thing so… I guess this is on the list for possible future installments. A gentle platonic “getting together” fic for Koji and Shino because, yeah, Shino is full of bugs which is Koji’s greatest fear but he’s also a good, kind, somewhat awkward person and probably the least traumatic way for Koji to if not get over then… adjust? desensitize?... to said fear.]] _ **

* * *

There's undercover, and then there's Undercover. Underneath the underneath, as it were.

Because, yes, a literal invisible girl would not only excel but also bloom as an undercover Hero--but that could only ever be her full time job. The thing she would be known for, and known everywhere for.

Everywhere she went, she'd be the Invisible Girl; there'd be no escaping her life as a Hero.

But an undercover hero who had a life outside of their heroism? Who weren't Heroes--whose name and faces (or lack thereof) were known to the world--but heroes who also happened to be engineers or detectives or florists or lawyers or doctors or ramen chefs or librarians or whatever else they wanted to be. And there lay the problem:

A boy who could erase quirks would have been the perfect Agent. Subtle, smart, able to fade into the crowd. Just another civilian by day, hero-with-a-lower-case-h at night. But Shouta had only ever wanted to be a Hero.

By the time anyone thought to ask Kakashi what he wanted, it was already too late.

**_[[In conclusion, this is where I repeat my thesis statement, basically. The defining difference in Agents versus Heroes and thus the defining difference between Kakashi and Aizawa. And the reason why the pattern of cool girl, two dudes, flashback kind of fell through because once I had this bit done, that was it. Why would I have a flashback when the point was made so definitively here?]]_ **

**_[[Also, I am such a sucker for that strong one liner ending.]]_ **

**Author's Note:**

> This is not what you were looking for, Charientist, but I hope you enjoyed anyway.


End file.
